There’s no better celebration of San Diego dog surfing culture than at the Helen Woodward Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon! This massive event was yesterday – Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013 – and it was a BLAST! There were several heats for small, medium, large & extra-large dogs, a costume contest, and tons of local/national vendors offering freebies & products for sale! Seriously you guys – this event was paw-some! :)

All the proceeds from the entire day (entry fees for competitors, booth fees for vendors, and raffle proceeds from the dozens of prizes up for grabs) went to the Helen Woodward Animal Center, a incredible organization right here in the San Diego area. Definitely a worthy cause!

The day started when the bullhorn sounded the first race! People had big smiles on their faces as they ran into the water!

First round: small dogs only. This chihuahua even had her nails painted to match her lifejacket!

This Jack Russell terrier braved the open ocean…

Shaking off the splashes as he came into shore!

There were a few wipeouts… I love this dog’s super-supportive mom in the background! :)

More love for the dogs!! This is Shelley, and she ended up being one of the finalists – she was great!!

Her dad was THRILLED to see her do so well!

This little gremlin was hanging on for dear li- uh, I mean, hanging ten!

This little pug was so cute – he posed like this ALL the way in to the shore. Like he was defiantly telling the ocean, I’m here, and you can’t stop me from surfing!! Too funny…

This was an incredible moment; this talented Jack Russel actually stayed on his board for the whole ride, even though it almost flipped him into the water! If I’d been on the board, I would have jumped off for sure. Not this brave little dude! The whole crowd yelled & cheered for him!

I do love a bulldog in polkadots.

This lab was too funny – a massive chain of seaweed was right in front of the competitors’ area, so a volunteer was moving it out of the way, and this dog thought it would make for a great game of tug-of-war! He kept biting and pulling at the seaweed, completely working against the volunteer’s efforts! Haha! (don’t worry, the volunteer was laughing too!)

This golden retriever staked out the perfect viewing spot. He stood here stoically for quite a while, “overseeing” all the activity.

And then came the costume round… ha!

You might recognize this bulldog: his name is Louie, and he was on the cover of September’s San Diego Pets Magazine! Here’s a link to his issue/story; check it out online if you haven’t picked up a physical copy yet! He’s surfed all over the country, so it was great to see him hit the waves here in San Diego!

And then, of course, there’s Dozer! This big guy has a book coming out soon, and is quite the decorated surf dog!

Dozer “shakes off the competition”, while another bulldog has a great time out there, judging by the smile on her face!

And last but certainly not least – it’s Ricochet! This beautiful & talented girl not only won her size division, but fundraised the MOST money of any competitor for Helen Woodward – more that $7500!!! She’s a champ twice over! :)  I love how she looks so happy when she surfs – and at one point she freestyled a bit and rode in backwards!

In addition to photographing all the action, I had the privilege of sharing a booth with Muttropolis on the beach. Even though I didn’t get to speak with many people that stopped by (I was in the water for most of the day!), someone won a $100 gift certificate toward a San Diego pet photo session! I can’t wait to meet the winner!

(If you haven’t had your fill of surfing photos yet, check out the Facebook page! There are dozens more there, in a big album from the day… and people are leaving some pretty funny comments!)

Thanks for coming out & supporting the Helen Woodward Animal Center! If you weren’t able to make it this year, I hope all the fun photos convinced you to come in 2014!  Congrats to Ricochet, Dozer and the rest of the winners! :)

Tags: San Diego, San Diego Dog Photographer, San Diego pet photography